


rattle my cage

by LNC



Series: Coffee Shop Playlist [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, adrienette - Freeform, alya has plans, mid-frozer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LNC/pseuds/LNC
Summary: In which history, despite Alya's best efforts, does not repeat itself.





	rattle my cage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CaughtFeelings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaughtFeelings/gifts).



> This is for the lovely @booyahfuruya on tumblr who requested Adrien and Marinette locked in the panther cage.

It was all Alya’s fault.

Not that she would ever admit to it.  If pressed she would adamantly insist it was all _Nora’s_ doing.

Never mind that the tenacious blogger should have been babysitting and _not_ chasing superheroes across the arrondissements– no, it was her _sister’s_ overprotectiveness that landed Marinette in this mess in the first place.

 _This mess_ being a locked panther cage, a debilitating crush, and a literal pile of animal shit.

She cast a too-wide, uneasy smile towards her stupidly attractive, blessedly naive co-captive and waved.

Adrien, confused, waved back.

 _Ugh_.

She _really_ needed to have a talk with Tikki one of these days about what it meant to be Lady Luck. 

Because, honestly, she was starting to have doubts.

What was lucky about having a best friend who considered unmasking her superhero alter-ego her life’s purpose?  A best friend who pawned her _actual_ responsibilities onto her too-accommodating boyfriend.

A boyfriend, who, by all accounts, was (justifiably) terrified of said best friend’s older sister.

An older sister who would and did _not_ take kindly to the discovery that her baby sister’s boyfriend let her run off after a magical terrorist. An older sister who, after putting the fear of god into the boy, sent him after her, neglecting to put away her _other_ sisters’ football in the process.  

A devastating oversight that sent said best friend’s father tripping and spraining his ankle.

All of which now culminated in being dragged out of her bed by an indignant, grounded Alya, coerced into helping out at the zoo while Monsieur Cesaire was recovering.

 _“Please_ , M.” She’d said, with the biggest, brownest puppy dog eyes Marinette had ever seen.  “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

So, like a sap, she’d agreed.

Something Marinette was now deeply regretting.

Apparently, _making it up to her_ meant pulling a Ladybug and “accidentally” locking her in the panther cage with Adrien before disappearing with her equally traitorous boyfriend.

_E tu Nino?_

In another life maybe, _maybe_ Marinette could forgive Alya this so-called favor.  Another life where Adrien hadn’t just days before confessed to liking another girl.

_She’s special. Very pretty. She’s got dark silky hair, deep and mysterious eyes._

Kagami Tsurugi was ladybug lucky and Marinette was the very good friend who’d volunteered to keep them company on their first date this afternoon.

She’d never dreaded ice skating more.

Even the solace of Luka’s company couldn’t stem the tide of _that_ impending heartbreak.

And Alya, bless her, couldn’t seem to let it go.

“That could be you,” She’d said.  “You can’t give up now!”

It’d been a loud and frequent argument these last few days.  One Marinette apparently needed to revisit. Again.

“I’m really sorry about this,” She said, wiping her sweating palms against her jeans.

Akumas she could take down no problem.

Adorably earnest boys?  Not so much.

“No worries,” Adrien said, looking unfairly attractive for someone who was currently shoveling animal excrement.  “It’s not your fault Alya ran off with the keys.”

She smiled, nervous.  “Yeah. I guess not.”

“Besides,” Adrien said.  “I’ll just text Kagami and let her know.  We can always hang out another time, right?”

“Sure.”

She changed the subject then.  There was only so much a girl could take and Marinette felt stretched to the limits on her best days.  They moved on from fencing to school to his audition for the new Ladybug and Chat Noir movie when the screaming started.

Marinette froze as a woman’s terrified cry echoed through the park.  Adrien met her eyes across the cage, grimacing.

“What are the odds it’s just an escaped gorilla or something?”

She stared. He sighed.

“Right.” And then, more quietly, “ _Fuck_.”

Marinette barely registered the epithet and his rushing towards the locked cage entrance as she whipped out her phone to call Alya.

The phone rang once, twice, three times.

“Don’t you dare leave us here while you play Lois Lane-” She growled, angrily hanging up when she was sent to voicemail.  She tried Nino next with the same result.

 _Fuck, shit, fuck_.

“Aaaand the Ladyblog is live. _Fuck_.” Adrien said, echoing her thoughts.

He tossed her a worried look which she ignored.

She didn’t have time to reassure him.  She was already dialing the zoo’s front desk only to be met with the akuma emergency notification recording.

 _No phones, then_.

Another scream followed by an earth-shaking explosion that nearly sent them both to their knees.  Adrien helped her to her feet and patted her sides. She waved off his fussing with a flustered, nervous laugh.

Now _really_ wasn’t the time.

Reluctant but assured, Adrien tried the back entrance again, muttering a low string of curses with every useless yank of the door.

Marinette’s eyes scanned the cage for something, _anything_.

Maybe, if they worked together and had the proper leverage –  one of the heavier logs scattered throughout the habitat? – they might be able to fashion some sort of battering ram.  Although as the door opened _inwards_ she doubted they’d be strong enough to do any good. And even _if_ that managed to work the possibility of one or both of them getting hurt in the process was too risky. 

Marinette couldn’t even begin to think about what Gabriel would do if she injured Adrien by being so careless.  Her designing dreams dashed before they ever truly had a chance to take form. Adrien crippled, spending months in physical therapy, only to fall in love with his nurse.  Marinette growing old, unsuccessful, and dying alone.

_Ouch!_

Tikki pinched her side, sending her a look she knew all too well.

 _You’re catastrophizing again_.

Right. _Right_.

So the battering ram was out.

There was some sheet metal near the exit - if she managed to unravel it they could try to catch the light and attention of any passersby.  Assuming of course there was anyone _left_ nearby and that said people would be able to do anything in the first place.

She quickly dismissed any success there as unlikely.

She tugged at her pigtails, regretting her choice in hairstyle and its woeful lack of bobby pins even as she doubted something like that would work on the cage’s lock.

Or at least, she _hoped_ it wouldn’t, no matter how convenient it may be in the current circumstances.

 _Although_ … Marinette met Tikki’s anxious gaze. _I have something_ better _than a bobby pin_.

Tikki could get them out of here.  Preferably in a way that _wouldn’t_ involve revealing her identity.

God, she could only imagine.

_Hey hot stuff.  Real sorry to drop this extremely dangerous secret on your lap but Paris needs me.  
_

Yeah, _no_.

Marinette could do this without going that far.  All she needed to do was find a way to get Adrien away from the doors… and come up with some sort of explanation for how she managed to get them open in the first place.

Something that, upon consideration, shouldn’t be _too_ difficult.  As ridiculous and incomprehensible as her stammering and excuses have been over the past year he always seemed to believe her.  A heart of gold _and_ oblivious – Adrien Agreste really was the whole package.

Decision made, she nodded to her kwami who returned it with an adorable determination.

Excuse on her lips, she pointed towards the opposite side of the cage.

“Adrien I think we can use that log–”

“I’m sorry, Marinette.”

She whirled around to find Adrien much closer than before, mouth set in a firm line.  He was staring beyond the bars of the cage towards downtown and the likely akuma.

The _what for_ was on the tip of her tongue when she caught sight of a pair of familiar, electric eyes blinking out at her from his open shirt pocket.

_Wait…_

“Plagg – _claws out!_ ”

Marinette reflexively shielded her eyes against the blinding flash of green light.  It was useless though– the stomach sinking feeling of shock and dread was already setting in.  She knew exactly who she would find when she dropped her hands.

Chat Noir gave a sheepish wave.

_Son of a bitch._

“Um, hi."

Marinette blinked once, twice,

and then screamed.

“Wait– shh, no!” Chat ( _Adrien_ ) said, ears flat, hands outstretched placatingly.  “Don’t scream. _Please_ don’t scream, Marinette.  It’s me. I’ll explain everything I swe–”

“You...” She said, holding up a shaky finger.  “You...”

“Me.” He said, his lips quirking up into the smallest smile in spite of everything.

 _Oooh_.  She could just _kill_ him.

“You- You’re so _stupid_!” She cried and his smirk fell from his lips.

“ _Excuse me?_ ”

“We– we could have called someone!  Or jerry-rigged a battering ram! Or… or… you– we could have–” Marinette pulled at her pigtails and let out another muffled scream.  “I can’t _believe_ you.”

“ _Me?_ ” He said, angry now.  “ _You_ can’t believe _me_?”

“No,” She snapped.  “I can’t. If you had just _given_ me a second I could have gotten us out of here!”

“With _what_?” He said, gesturing wildly.  “Your magic lockpicking kit?”

She stomped her foot, furious.  “I was _working_ on it!”

“Well that’s great, Marinette.  Real great.” He crossed his arms and she wanted to smack that patronizing look right off his stupid face.  “But I don’t have time to wait around when there’s an _akuma_ on the loose and Ladybug _needs_ me.”

“What Ladybug _needs_ ,” She said, reaching up to poke at his temple.  “Is for you to fucking _think_.”

“I was thinking!”

“There are _cameras_ , Chat.” She hissed, waving hysterically towards the blinking object in the corner of the cage.  “Oh my _god_.  Cataclysm that and recharge Plagg. We could have gotten out of here without the dramatics.”

Chat rolled his eyes.

“Oh _I’m_ dramatic, she says.”

“Who’s wearing leather spandex?” She snapped before opening her purse.  “Tikki? Can you open that door?”

Chat Noir gawked as the little red and black sprite floated out of Marinette’s bag.  Tikki gave him the stink eye before phasing through to the other side of the cage. A few seconds later there was a distinct _click_ and the door swung inwards.

 _Ladybug_.

“We’ll talk about this later,” She said, cutting off his rising tide of gibbering, flailing, and panic.

Chat nodded, dumbstruck.  Unfortunately, his brain hadn’t caught up to his mouth and he said

“Where was that idea ten minutes ago?”

Marinette scowled.  “It was one of the first things I thought of, dumbass.  I just thought, you know, it would be best _not_ to out myself.”

The reality of the situation had yet to set in but hearing Ladybug’s frustration come out of Marinette’s mouth was grounding.  Sort of. Maybe.

His mind flashed to their original plans for the day and he let out a mortified squeak.

 _Oh my god_.

“How are you not freaking out about this?”

“Who said I wasn’t freaking out?” Marinette said, deadpan.  She pointed towards the security station. “First the cameras, then the akuma.  I’ll go find a place to transform.”

She shot him a familiar, scolding look that sent his heart stumbling over itself.

 _Oh my_ **_god_**.

He’d found her. He’d _found_ her.

“Wipe that dumb smile off your dumb face.” Marinette said. “I’m still mad at you.”

Chat saluted, still smiling.  “Yes ma’am.”

“ _Ugh_.” She grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him towards security.  “ _Go_.”

“Okay, okay.  Just…” He looked down at her over his shoulder, eyes soft.  “We’ll talk later yeah?”

“Sure,” Marinette said, traitorous cheeks turning pink even as she pushed him away.  “We’ll talk later.”

Much, _much_ later. 

Like, after she’d had time to scream later.

With her promise of a future discussion secure, Chat bounded off towards the security station, the very picture of caught canary. 

Marinette met Tikki’s exasperated gaze with her own.

Her kwami shrugged.

“Well… at least he’s pretty.”


End file.
